Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from my super Jack!!!

No trick or treating for  Jackson this year but that doesn't mean he can't have a fun costume right?!?!

Pumpkin Patch

Please indulge me and let me show you pictures of the cutest baby boy EVER in the pumpkins last week! Our church has a BIG blowout pumpkin patch so we went to take pictures. When we went there were actually not many pumpkins and I was thinking, man they are going to run out early this year! Then the next week they replenished. . . . with 1900 new pumpkins! So, um, not the best timing but the weather was perfect so I jumped at the opportunity :)

I die at the cuteness! It was so fun, and there was lots of pumpkin "patting" and grass eating as we went so these are clearly picked through, but I love them. 

 Then we went home and tried to get Sam in on the fun. . . didn't last for long though!

Love that face :) 

Happy Fall to you! 

Southwestern Sweet potatoes

I've been racking my brain Pinterest for new recipes lately as I feel like we've been eating the same recipes over and over again for dinner. Does that happen to you? Well I came across this recipe that I pinned back in January from a GREAT cooking blog, Haute Apple Pie, I read and I thought it was the perfect time to make it! 

Y'all!! You must try this recipe, its really easy and didn't require any crazy ingredients! 

Twice-Baked Southwestern Sweet Potatoes

4 large sweet potatoes
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 lb spicy turkey sausage
1/2 C frozen corn
1/2 C black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 C shredded Colby Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick potatoes with a fork in multiple spots. Place on foil lined, rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour or until soft in the middle.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add turkey sausage and cook until no pink remains. Reduce heat to medium and add black beans and corn and all spices (chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper). Mix and cook 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat.

Remove sweet potatoes from oven. With a knife, slice the potatoes lengthwise from tip to tip. Using tongs (the potatoes are hot!), hold the sweet potato in place. Take a fork and mash the insides of the potato until completely mashed. Repeat for each potato. Spoon sausage mixture into the top of the potatoes, working it into the sides a bit. Top each potato with a sprinkle of cheese. 

Throw the potatoes back in the oven on the baking sheet for about 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted. 

So tasty!! 

PS- the original recipe actually called for Chorizo, which would be delicious too but I was trying to cut down on the fat content so I could use this as an any day weeknight meal! For a special meal though I would totally use chorizo.

Recipe and picture from Haute Apple Pie

Hall bathroom

The hall bathroom in our house is pretty much the only room in the house that hasn't really been touched. When we moved in, previous owners had already replaced the vanity and the toilet but the old tiles/ tub etc still remain. It's not terrible, it's just not my favorite thing to look at, and the vanity is extremely poor quality, as is most of the renovations done by previous owners. The veneer on the plywood is peeling away in several spots. It is also really deep which makes the bathroom even narrower than it already is!

So basically I dream about re-doing our hall bathroom pretty much all the time! And it seems we might actually get to renovate in the next few months (hoping!!) So I've started seriously thinking about what I want to do with this room. Beyond using better materials there are some design tweaks I'd LOVE to be able to do, if they aren't too cost prohibitive! But the most fun is looking at all the fun options for everything. So far this is what I'm thinking. . .

• Dark floors laid in a brick pattern
• white subway tile
• white vanity with marble top 
• pull out toe-kick on the vanity for use as a step stool
• some marble accent tile in the bathtub
• towel hooks (we are talking a kids bathroom!)
• some modern hardware/ faucets
• a round mirror with dark frame
• Benjamin Moore's Seacliff Heights on the walls
• some fun kid friendly fabric to (yet to be determined) that I can make into a shower curtain and window treatment 
• a built in cabinet where my dinky shelving unit currently lives. 

The tall cabinet is probably my favorite feature that I really want but it will have to be custom built because we only have 12" depth so we may have to come up with a different idea, we'll see! Oh and I would love to have the toe-kick be able to roll out as a step for kids. Thank you Pinterest for such genius ideas.

So that's what I'm thinking, but don't get too attached, I've been known to change my mind a few times before committing :)